I use a smart list to manage my tasks and sort them to show me tasks with no due date first and then tasks by date.
If I add a new task while in the reminders list it follows my new task settings and does not add a date, but any time I add a new task while I am in my smart list it always adds today as the date. My preference is to have no date unless I set it manually
My New Task settings are set to None for the date